When the Curtain Rises
by xSn0wangel
Summary: When the Fairy Tail drama club throws a cast party, they go hard! Natsu gets more than he bargined for when Mira decides to stir things up a bit.


***Warning! This story contains GrayxNatsu or boyxboy pairing. If this offends you for any reason please turn back now!

After three showings all of our hard work was coming to a fulfilling end. Our high school's winter play had been a big hit this year and we'd sold every seat in the house each night. Honestly I have no idea why it was so popular this year when we could barely get anyone to show up the year before, but I sure wasn't complaining! The play was even something terribly cliché and overdone because the drama teacher had chosen Romeo and Juliet of all things.

It was a long four months of drama-filled rehearsals and spouting lines so many times that the most scatterbrained, stage fright filled person couldn't forget them. Considering I had one of the worst memories out of everyone, I spent most of my time trying to understand whatever weirdness I was saying as Romeo. It was like the whole play wasn't even in English!

* * *

Since we were together all of time, there were break-ups between cast members and conflicts when people over acted or when tensions became high. Lucy nearly fell from her balcony when Gajeel forgot to tighten a few screws on the wooden scaffolding and we all thought Erza and Laxus were really going to kill each other during the sword fight between Tybalt and Mercutio. How the red-headed senior managed to talk Professor Makarov into letting her play a guy's part in the first place was beyond me.

Therefore all of us seriously needed a night of fun after all the craziness was over and luckily Lucy was hosting a party to celebrate the final performance. Of course our cast parties always got a little out of hand, but that's just how the Fairy Tail drama club was!

When I showed up at the door to my best friend's mansion, I could already hear the music blaring inside. Letting myself in, I instantly headed to the table full of finger food that was set up in the entry way. Since I didn't have to listen to Erza, who was also in charge of costumes, yell at me anymore over not fitting into my wardrobe changes, I was ready to go wild!

I'd already shoved three rice balls into my mouth, when Juvia popped up out of nowhere.

"Natsu, have you seen Gray? Juvia can't find him anywhere," she spoke with a pout on her face. Despite not seeing the dark haired junior, I probably would've lied even if I had seen him. Gray had always been a hard-working member of the set building team and his scenery paintings were beautifully intricate and captivatingly realistic. However, it took him twice as long to get anything done when Juvia was literally hanging onto his arm whenever she could, still he somehow managed to always meet the creation deadlines with solid work.

"Nah, I jusss, em, got here," I answered in between gulps. She looked pretty dejected at my answer and I watched as she slinked away to look elsewhere.

"Natsu!" cried Lucy as she pounced on me from behind. "I didn't see you come in! What are you doing out here?"

One look at my double fisted snacks and she got her answer.

"Well at least you're here," she laughed as she pulled me away from the food and down to the basement where all of our friends were gathered.

Everyone waved and shouted greetings to me over the music as we joined the party. Mira and Lisanna were dancing to whatever odd song Gajeel was singing on the karaoke machine that he always brought. Cana was downing any liquor she could grab from the drink table while little Wendy stood next to her with wide eyes at how much her senior could put away. Levy was chatting with Jet and Droy as they played ping pong against Freed and Bixlow with Laxus occasionally pitching in. Jellal and Erza were cuddled together on one of the couches in the corner while Juvia and Lyon sat across from them laughing hysterically. Elfman was arm wrestling Sting for the hundredth time while a cross armed Rogue refereed and a loud mouthed Evergreen cheered for neither of them and chastised men in general.

Lucy led me over to where Gajeel was performing and politely asked for the microphone when he was in between songs.

"Attention everybody, since we're all here at last, I just wanted to say how happy I am at how wonderful our play was this semester! You're all so talented and the most amazing friends! Let's celebrate Fairy Tail style because we've earned it!"

Everyone cheered at her heartfelt words and Lucy blushed as she huddled into my side. Although she was a brilliant actress, my best friend didn't like being the center of attention for long when she was off-stage. So it was up to me to pull her out of the spotlight and over to where Erza and Jellal were hanging out.

Instantly the party was back in full swing and I enjoyed a good twenty minutes of chatting with my friends until someone decided to switch things up.

"Hey guys, how about we play a game?" shouted Mira over all the noise. There was an instant hush over the room as everyone contemplated the pros and cons of such a suggestion.

"There is no way in hell anyone is going to play after last year's truth or dare fiasco," muttered Laxus as he rolled his eyes. A couple people agreed as they recalled the awkwardness of Elfman's naked push-ups, Levy's timid confession of feelings for Gajeel, and Wendy's face after eating three pickled plums.

"Oh c'mon Laxus, live a little!" chimed in Cana. "It's not like anyone got hurt last time."

Wendy paled beside her.

"I was thinking something simple, like….spin the bottle!" Mira continued with a smile.

"What are we grade schoolers?" said Sting with a huff.

"I'm game!" shouted Loke who had just appeared from upstairs with Gray in tow.

"If my love is playing then Juvia shall play as well!" After hearing that, I saw Loke's grip on Gray's arm tighten significantly.

Laxus shook his head but he wasn't one to fight the majority. This was going to end badly somehow.

As everyone moved together to form a large circle in the middle of the room, I wondered how in the world this was going to work.

"Isn't someone going to set some ground rules or something?" asked Lisanna as the voice of reason. She had after all had to see her brother strip last year. Her eyes would never recover completely from that.

"What's the matter? Afraid you'll end up macking on Elfman?" jibbed Gajeel before Levy lightly smacked him on the arm.

"Okay here are the rules," began Mira, "You kiss whoever the bottle lands on for at least thirty seconds regardless of gender but if you're related to them then you get to re-spin. Is that fair to everyone?"

Since there were no objections, Cana chugged an entire bottle of beer so we'd have something to spin and set it in the middle of the circle.

Wendy was the one to ask, "Who wants to start?"

Of course, Juvia's arm shot straight up in the air and her small hand took hold of the empty bottle. I glanced over at Gray as he wearily watched the glass begin to spin around. For his sake, I hoped it landed elsewhere.

The mouth of the bottle slowed to a stop facing Erza.

I thought Juvia might start crying at missing out on kissing her beloved Gray but there was a strange look of determination in Erza's eyes. Without giving it much thought, the girls crawled into the middle of the circle and leaned in. There were a couple of cat-calls from some of the guys but overall it wasn't a very exciting kiss and it wasn't long before the two pulled away.

However, Erza was lucky enough to get Jellal for her spin and even I blushed at the intimacy of the kiss they shared.

Jellal landed on Wendy, but kissed her cheek for thirty seconds since the rule of lips to lips wasn't technically established. However, it was agreed that it was in play for the rest of the game, so when Wendy landed on me, she had no choice except to fully participate. We shared a chaste kiss and when I pulled away, I thought the poor girl was going to faint.

I was up.

"Huh, I just realized something," exclaimed Rogue with a thoughtful look on his face. "Natsu doesn't have to worry about who he lands on because he's the only one of us who's bisexual."

A couple people hmmed in response but I was slightly annoyed at his little fun fact.

"Just 'cause gender doesn't matter to me, doesn't mean I wanna kiss everyone," I mumbled as I fingered the beer bottle. My friends knew that I hadn't really dated much despite my established preferences so they just needed to chill out.

Praying that it wouldn't land on Laxus, I gave it a spin and held my breath as it rotated once, twice, and several more times before coming to a stop.

It pointed towards Gray.

I blinked in surprise but figured I could've ended up with someone much worse. I'd honestly never had a conversation with the guy before, which was pretty uncommon when we saw each other at drama club every single day. I had actually tried several times to make small talk with him but somehow Juvia was always there to answer for him.

"Let's see what you've got Romeo," he said as he moved towards the center of the circle. I tried not to check him out in those blue skinny jeans and tight black shirt, yet my eyes still lingered.

My hands tightened into fists at the challenge and I glared as I crawled to where he was kneeling. He sure looked eager for having to kiss a dude, then again, out of everyone he was the only one who's sexual preferences I didn't know.

"This is going to be interesting," I heard Lyon whisper and I tried not to wince.

"Gray-samaaaaa," cried Juvia into her hands since she was too upset to watch.

Inches away from Gray, I got my first good look at him. His eyes that were usually hidden beneath his bangs were deep blue and sultry. The planes of his face were smooth and what a killer jawline! This guy had to have been hiding from me all this time!

I was shocked when he initiated the kiss with a bite to my bottom lip.

So that's how this was going to be!

Sliding my tongue between his parted lips, I felt him flinch at my boldness. He counterattacked by grabbing the back of my neck as he flicked his tongue against my own. My fingers dug into his shoulders as I fought his surprisingly cold organ back into his own mouth. There was something about the minty taste of his lips and the feeling of them pressing against mine that had me completely forgetting where we were. His hands raked down my back and grabbed at my waist and my arms slid around his neck as we really started getting into it. So when he led my tongue into his mouth and gently sucked on it, I moaned.

"Jeeze you two, get a room!" shouted Cana.

"I can't be the only one enjoying the show though," said Loke.

Remembering that we weren't alone, I pulled back from his lips and felt my face burn with embarrassment. Gray smirked as his hands refused to let go of he and I shivered as his fingers ghosted along my lower back.

"How about we make things more interesting?" Everyone turned to look at Mira, whose innocent smile really wasn't fooling anyone.

"Let's make them play seven minutes in Heaven!"

"Wha-?" was all I could say before I was dragged out of the circle by Gajeel and Rogue.

I didn't have time to object as I was pushed into the closet and Gray was thrown in after me.

When the door slammed behind him, Gray fell forwards but caught himself by caging me between his arms.

We stared at each other in silence as our eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting.

"So, that was kinda mortifying," I mumbled as I avoided eye contact with the guy inches from my face.

"Was it really?" asked Gray teasingly. "You're always the center of attention aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

I felt his arms shake as he laughed.

"You're always the male lead." I admired his smooth voice for a moment before recalling that he was probably waiting for a response.

"Oh, in the plays? Yeah, I was in the last three."

"It's because you're so good."

I looked at Gray to see if he was messing with me, but his face looked serious.

"At first, I thought you were just an idiot."

Instantly fuming, I was about to yell back a few choice insults of my own but he clamped a hand over my mouth before I could get a word out.

"Just listen first okay?" he asked calmly.

I stayed silent when he dropped his hand because his dark eyes seemed believable enough.

"You forgot your lines at every rehearsal, couldn't hit your marks or follow stage cues, not to mention that you couldn't stay in character for more than five minutes."

"Do you have a point?" I gritted through my clenched teeth. The nerve of this guy and all his criticisms when he didn't even know me!

He ignored my question as he continued. "But, your first real stage performance, everything came together. You were vivid, witty, and if I'd never seen you at practice, I would've thought you were that charming in real life. I was captivated by you, it was amazing."

I felt my heart swell slightly at his compliments and perceptiveness.

"After that, I wanted to know everything about you. What made you tick? How were you so genuine?"

He worked his arms around my middle as he added, "How does someone even smile like that?" Kissing both of my cheeks he added, "Plus you're pretty cute for a guy."

I was blushing again but thankfully he probably couldn't tell in the low light. Part of me wanted to object to being called cute yet I was willing to let it slide for the time being, at least as long as he had that soft smile on his face.

We were both halfway through our junior year and I'd never given him a second look, unless that blue-haired girl was being particularly loud or something.

"Wait, what about Juvia?"

He groaned as I guessed where the conversion was headed.

"I'm gay, Natsu."

"Then she-?"

"Won't listen."

"And she-?"

"Doesn't have a chance in hell."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

We stared at each other for a full minute as I absorbed everything. Sighing, I leaned forwards and rested my chin on his shoulder because I knew I wouldn't be able to look him in the eyes soon. Feeling like my arms were out of place, I grabbed at his back over the top of his arms.

"Well I always thought you were pretty cool too…" I spoke softly against his neck. "At least, I always admired how skilled you were at painting to make all of those crazy good backdrops and stuff." It was true, his work on the sets had always added to the integrity of our plays.

How did I end up in the closet with this super attractive artist, who even had solid back muscles that I was admiring with my fingertips?

"I draw whenever I have free time," he told me as he pulled me even closer against him, if that was possible. He was lucky that I didn't have any boundaries.

"I'll show you my sketchbook some time, you're in there quite a bit."

When I laughed into his neck, he shivered, so I pulled back to look at him again.

"Has Mira ever seen your drawings?"

He nodded.

"Well I guess that explains all the games."

"And the lack of a time limit in both games."

"Oh hell, I'm not going to complain," I said before pressing my lips against his again.

And we kept at it for well over seven minutes.

Annnnnd we might've even gone for an encore because hell, we were celebrating Fairy Tail style!

L7L7L7L7


End file.
